Bolshoi Star in Battle With Theater Wins Partial Victory

A Moscow court partially backed a
lawsuit brought by Nikolai Tsiskaridze, a principal dancer at
the Bolshoi Theater, who is locked in a battle with the ballet
company.

Tverskoi District Court Judge Yevgeny Komissarov today
agreed to overturn one of two reprimands Tsiskaridze received
for giving unauthorized interviews. Both sides said they plan to
appeal. Tsiskaridze has said that he is in danger of being fired
unless the court expunges the two disciplinary warnings from the
Bolshoi.

“This is not their first attempt to sack me,” Georgian-
born Tsiskaridze, 39, told the court during today’s hearing. He
said he was being victimized.

A battle for control of Russia’s most famous theater,
founded in 1776 by Catherine the Great, has become public after
an acid attack on artistic director Sergei Filin in January.

Tsiskaridze has been making statements to the media. In
February, he told the BBC that the theater’s management should
be fired. He also said that he was ready to replace Anatoly Iksanov, the Bolshoi’s general director, who then called on
Tsiskaridze to resign.

Police detained Pavel Dmitrichenko, a lead dancer at the
Bolshoi, in March after he confessed to organizing an assault on
Filin. He denied that he had asked the attackers to use acid,
which damaged Filin’s face and eyes.

Open Letter

More than 300 members of the ballet have come out in
defense of Dmitrichenko. In an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, they have called the idea that Dmitrichenko was behind
the crime “absurd.”

Iksanov has said he doesn’t believe Dmitrichenko is the
mastermind and that another person ordered the assault. He has
accused Tsiskaridze of having created an atmosphere at the
theater that led to the crime.

Tsiskaridze has repeatedly denied involvement in the
attack. The theater would have the right to sack him, if it
issues him with another reprimand even after today’s ruling.